Health & Safety Procedures
11.1 Health & Safety Procedures
- I carry out regular risk assessments of my home and equipment and take remedial action as required.
- I change the layout of the play areas and the accessability of toys depending on the ages and maturity of the children in my care when new children come in.
- My house is a no smoking area.
- Medicines are kept in their original containers and stored out of sight and reach of children.
- I use safety gates where necessary.
- I only purchase or use safe toys and broken toys are disposed of.
- I take care that children in my care do not climb out of windows.
- Any window blind cords will be properly secured out of reach of the children.
- Children are not allowed unsupervised access to pets; however children will always try to create opportunities for unsupervised access to pets (e.g. by letting the cats into the house) so our cats and dogs have been raised to be very child-friendly and as child-proof as cats and dogs will be.
- My clothes line is out of reach of children. Children have no unsupervised access to it.
- Sheds are only accessible to the children under supervision, i.e. they are not allowed in the sheds on their own.
- Gates to the fields and the back gate are closed at all times. I keep a lock on the back gate that goes out onto the borraheen behind our house.
- My swing frame, my trampoline, and my see-saw are firmly secured to the ground.
- I practice and promote effective hand-washing in my service, and encourage the minded children wash their hands before and after handling food, after playing outside, after touching animals, and after going to the toilet; however, I cannot always check whether children (especially the older ones) have actually washed their hands or just pretend to have done so.
- Each child has his/her own towels (each 1 in the kitchen and 1 in the bathroom) and I wash them every week.
- I maintain a high level of cleanliness in my Childminding service. I don't use dangerous cleaning products.
- My garden/outdoor play area is safe and appropriate for the ages/stages of the children.
- The outdoor play area available to minded children is enclosed, i. e. the play ground is not fenced in as such but there is a fence between the playground and the garden areas. The house side of the playground is open and there is free access to the front lawn; however, our whole property is fenced in.
- The children will have no unsupervised access to ponds, pits and other hazards in the garden. We have no silage pit, our septic tank is completely underground with no opening, and our ponds are enclosed.
- All reasonable steps are taken to prevent the spread of infection including the use of disposable gloves when changing nappies. I also use a special odor-preventing nappy bucket that is separate from the normal bin in the bathroom.
- All but routine outings are planned carefully and discussed with parent/guardian in advance. Routine outings such as shopping trips, trips to the library, parent & toddler meetings, trips to local playgrounds or beaches can happen spontaneously and are not necessarily previously discussed.
- Children will only have access to hot water of a safe temperature.
- I am insured for the protection of the children in the case of an accident.
- When not in use I use safety socket covers for electrical sockets within reach of the children.
- Children are transported in my car in line with current legislation and best practice. Each child has a suitable child restraint. I have taken out additional motor insurance to cover the children in my childminding service.